How to be an Affiliate Marketing Powerhouse: Part 2

You can make a lot of money as an affiliate marketer for other people’s products. Or… you can be left wondering why, despite all your efforts, no one has purchased this great product through your link. Here’s eleven more things you need to have right.

Be Diverse but Uncluttered
By all means promote more than one affiliate program, but in the same general area. The should solve the same (or better still) closely related problems. Be honest in your review of why one product might be better in Situation A and another product in Situation B. Don’t clutter your site with links to affiliate programs all over the place. Opt for a moderate number of links to related products.

Try to Fool Them and They’re Gone
Be honest in all your dealings. Make sure that your readers know what type of links they are clicking on and what they can expect at the other end. Otherwise, they will unsubscribe quicker than you can blink.

Keep Adsense Off Your Affiliate Promotions
Adsense is a shotgun. It needs thousands of pages, each bringing in a trickle of income. Affiliate marketing is a laser. You’re aiming at a very specific target with a very specific aim. Sell this product now and other related products later. Don’t mix the two.

Don’t Overdo It
Don’t over stretch yourself by taking on more than 4-5 products at the same time because you also need to find time to research and analyze the products before actually marketing them.

Track, Test, Improve
If the affiliate program comes with a tracking device or package, use it to keep a tab on the most active and least active links. Use the knowledge gained to improve both this and future affiliate programs.

Be Community Active
Join forums and community groups related to the problem that the affiliate products are aimed at solving. This helps you talk about your business and advertise it but most importantly helps you see the problem from the consumer’s viewpoint. Then target your solution to the problem. Don’t just be a salesperson or you will get yourself banned.

Become an Editor
Ezine popularity shows no sign of waning. Anything well written and passionately presented is always of interest to someone. Start your own and build a loyal subscriber base. They will take your recommendations seriously and your affiliate profits will soar.

Sell in Only One Third of Your Emails
Always send out at least two emails with free content to your subscribers for every one that is promoting an affiliate product for which you will get paid. Never promote a product that you haven’t either researched thoroughly, tried yourself, or both.

Knock ‘Em Out with Your Sales Page
A strong sales page is essential to sell your product. From the viewpoint of making sales, it’s more important than the product itself. Look at your sales page as if you were a prospective user. Does it make you want to buy? Remember, a good sales page sells product, a good product minimizes refunds.

Don’t Sell, Pre-Sell
Pre-sell your visitors by giving an unbiased review of the product. Naturally, it has to be a positive review, but otherwise you wouldn’t be selling the product, would you? Pick up on two or three really great features and expand on them.

You’ve Got One Chance to Get Their Details
Turn your visitors into prospects by including a sign up form on your review page. The steps involved should be they read the review, sign up to get something for free which, ideally, complements the product you want them to buy and then they get redirected to the merchant’s page (with your affiliate link, of course) automatically.

See Also: How to be an Affiliate Marketing Powerhouse: Part 1 (available on the Traffic Floodgate website)